Towns in Australia

Exploring Australia, town by town

Gordon Park QLD

Gordon Park

Postcode: 4031

Gordon Park is a small residential area in the middle of Brisbane’s northern suburbs. Without any major shopping centres or business, it seems like a small town instead of being close to the centre of a major city.

Gordon Park is about 6km from Brisbane’s CBD. Over 37% of households in this area are comprised of couples with children, 40% are couples without children and 18% are single parent families. Stand alone house account for 65% of all dwellings in this area, and units account for a further 28%. Highset Queenslanders, many beautifully renovated, are a feature of this green and leafy suburb. The median house price in Gordon Park for the 2004 calendar year was $383,750.

The Turrbal clan occupied the northern side of the Brisbane River. This clan was often referred to by the “whites” as the “Duke of York’s” clan. There were camping grounds around the Breakfast Creek area and the explorers Oxley and Cunningham met members of the clan at the mouth of the Creek in 1824.

The main encampment of the Turrbal clan was in “Yorks Hollow”. This gully passes through Victoria Park and the Royal National Association Showgrounds at Bowen Hills. In 1858 two Aborigines, Dalinkua and Dalpie from the Breakfast Creek area, wrote letters to The Moreton Bay Courier protesting about the treatment their people received at the hands of the white settlers.

The Gordon Estate – Lutwyche of 264 blocks went to auction on 25 September 1886. Gordon Park Estate of 1063 allotments was advertised for auction on 13 December 1890. The suburb was named after General Gordon who was the hero of the eight-month siege of Khartoum in the Sudan in the late 1800s. Trams ran to Gordon Park connecting it with Brisbane until they were progressively withdrawn from use, finally ceasing all operations on 13 April 1969. In the mid 1980s residents pushed to retain the locality name after concern that it could fade out of use.